How Could $100,000 Help Pinellas Schools?

Pinellas County Schools is in the running to win a $100,000 donation from Patch.com. No doubt, $100,000 is a big chunk of change for regular people like you and me. But it's not that much money for a school district with a budget of nearly $1.4 billion. 

Even so, every little bit helps, right? We took a look at some things the nation's 24th-largest school district could do with a donation of $100,000:

• Give each of the 140 schools in Pinellas County $714.28 to use however it wanted.
• Hire two teachers at the beginning salary of $37,013 and still have $25,974 left over for something else.
• Put $100,000 into its scholarship pool.
• Spend an additional 97 cents per student this year (There are 102,672 students in the school district, which currently spends $7,845 per student).
• Buy 1,250 e-readers.
• Buy 1.67 million No. 2 pencils.

How can I help Pinellas County Schools win $100,000 from Patch? 

Cast one vote each day in our online contest. It's easy and does not cost anything to vote. Voting ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 8. Here's the link to vote.

What is the contest?

A Palm Harbor home is one of 24 finalists in Patch's nationwide holiday lights contest, called Deck the House. The home with the most online votes will become the contest's grand prize winner. The public school district where the grand prize winner lives will receive a $100,000 donation. If the Palm Harbor home wins the grand prize, Pinellas County Schools will get $100,000.

Another way you can help is to email a link to this story to all your friends and family, and share the story on Facebook and Twitter. This is an EASY way to raise money for Pinellas County Schools! Let's win!

You can also follow @100KforSchools on Twitter and become a fan of Let's win $100,000 for local schools on Facebook.

For more information:

• See all 24 homes in the national contest (remember to vote for Arlene and John Banacki's Palm Harbor, FL home).
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